Nehemiah 13
13
Separation from Foreigners
1 #
Deut 23.3–5
When the Law of Moses was being read aloud to the people, they came to the passage that said that no Ammonite or Moabite was ever to be permitted to join God's people. 2#Num 22.1–6This was because the people of Ammon and Moab did not give food and water to the Israelites on their way out of Egypt. Instead, they paid money to Balaam to curse Israel, but our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3When the people of Israel heard this law read, they excluded all foreigners from the community.
Nehemiah's Reforms
4The priest Eliashib, who was in charge of the temple storerooms, had for a long time been on good terms with Tobiah. 5He allowed Tobiah to use a large room that was intended only for storing offerings of corn and incense, the equipment used in the Temple, the offerings for the priests, and the tithes of corn, wine, and olive oil given to the Levites, to the temple musicians, and to the temple guards. 6While this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, because in the 32nd year that Artaxerxes#13.6 Artaxerxes: As emperor of Persia, Artaxerxes also had the title “King of Babylon”. was king of Babylon I had gone back to report to him. After some time I received his permission 7and returned to Jerusalem. There I was shocked to find that Eliashib had allowed Tobiah to use a room in the Temple. 8I was furious and threw out all Tobiah's belongings. 9I gave orders for the rooms to be ritually purified and for the temple equipment, grain offerings, and incense to be put back.
10 #
Deut 12.19
I also learnt that the temple musicians and other Levites had left Jerusalem and gone back to their farms, because the people had not been giving them enough to live on. 11I reprimanded the officials for letting the Temple be neglected. And I brought the Levites and musicians back to the Temple and put them to work again. 12#Mal 3.10Then all the people of Israel again started bringing to the temple storerooms their tithes of corn, wine, and olive oil. 13I put the following men in charge of the storerooms: Shelemiah, a priest; Zadok, a scholar of the Law; and Pedaiah, a Levite. Hanan, the son of Zaccur and grandson of Mattaniah, was to be their assistant. I knew I could trust these men to be honest in distributing the supplies to their fellow-workers.
14Remember, my God, all these things that I have done for your Temple and its worship.
15 #
Ex 20.8–10; Deut 5.12–14; Jer 17.21–22 At that time I saw people in Judah pressing juice from grapes on the Sabbath. Others were loading corn, wine, grapes, figs, and other things on their donkeys and taking them into Jerusalem; I warned them not to sell anything on the Sabbath. 16Some people from the city of Tyre were living in Jerusalem, and they brought fish and all kinds of goods into the city to sell to our people on the Sabbath. 17I reprimanded the Jewish leaders and said, “Look at the evil you're doing! You're making the Sabbath unholy. 18This is exactly why God punished your ancestors when he brought destruction on this city. And yet you insist on bringing more of God's anger down on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”
19So I gave orders for the city gates to be shut at the beginning of every Sabbath, as soon as evening#13.19 evening: The Jewish day begins at sunset. began to fall, and not to be opened again until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my men at the gates to make sure that nothing was brought into the city on the Sabbath. 20Once or twice merchants who sold all kinds of goods spent Friday night outside the city walls. 21I warned them, “It's no use waiting out there for morning to come. If you try this again, I'll use force against you.” From then on they did not come back on the Sabbath. 22I ordered the Levites to purify themselves and to go and guard the gates to make sure that the Sabbath was kept holy.
Remember me, O God, for this also, and spare me because of your great love.
23 #
Ex 34.11–16; Deut 7.1–5 At that time I also discovered that many of the Jewish men had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24Half their children spoke the language of Ashdod or some other language and didn't know how to speak our language. 25I reprimanded the men, called down curses on them, beat them, and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath in God's name that never again would they or their children intermarry with foreigners. 26#2 Sam 12.24–25; 1 Kgs 11.1–8I said, “It was foreign women that made King Solomon sin. He was a man who was greater than any of the kings of other nations. God loved him and made him king over all Israel, and yet he fell into this sin. 27Are we then to follow your example and disobey our God by marrying foreign women?”
28 #
Neh 4.1
Joiada was the son of Eliashib the High Priest, but one of Joiada's sons married the daughter of Sanballat, from the town of Beth Horon, so I made Joiada leave Jerusalem.
29Remember, O God, how those people defiled both the office of priest and the covenant you made with the priests and the Levites.
30I purified the people from everything foreign; I prepared regulations for the priests and the Levites so that each one would know his duty; 31I arranged for the wood used for burning the offerings to be brought at the proper times, and for the people to bring their offerings of the first corn and the first fruits that ripened.
Remember all this, O God, and give me credit for it.
Currently Selected:
Nehemiah 13: GNBDK
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Nehemiah 13
13
Nehemiah’s Further Reforms
1At that time#Neh 12:27 the book of Moses#Dt 28:61; Neh 8:1–3 was read publicly to#13:1 Lit read in the ears of the people.#Neh 9:3 The command was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite#Neh 13:23 should ever enter the assembly of God,#Dt 23:3 2because they did not meet the Israelites with food and water. Instead, they hired Balaam against them to curse them,#Nm 22:2–11; 23:7; 24:10; Dt 23:3–5 but our God turned the curse into a blessing.#Dt 23:4–5 3When they heard the law, they separated all those of mixed descent#Dt 23:3,6 from Israel.
4Now before this, the priest Eliashib#Neh 12:10,22–23 had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God.#Neh 12:44 He was a relative#13:4 Or an associate of Tobiah#Neh 2:10; 6:14 5and had prepared a large room for him where they had previously stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the articles, and the tenths of grain, new wine, and fresh oil#Neh 12:44 prescribed for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, along with the contributions for the priests.#Nm 13:21–32; Dt 14:28–29; 26:12–15
6While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to King Artaxerxes#Neh 2:1–8 of Babylon#Ezr 5:13 in the thirty-second year of his reign.#Neh 2:1; 5:14 It was only later that I asked the king for a leave of absence#Neh 1:11; 2:6 7so I could return to Jerusalem. Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done on behalf of Tobiah by providing him a room in the courts of God’s house. 8I was greatly displeased and threw all of Tobiah’s household possessions out of the room. 9I ordered that the rooms be purified,#1Ch 23:28; 2Ch 29:5; Neh 13:30 and I had the articles of the house of God restored there, along with the grain offering and frankincense.#Neh 12:44 10I also found out that because the portions for the Levites had not been given,#Dt 12:19; Neh 12:44,47 each of the Levites and the singers performing the service had gone back to his own field.#2Ch 29:5 11Therefore, I rebuked the officials, asking, “Why has the house of God been neglected?” #Neh 10:37–39; Mal 3:10 I gathered the Levites and singers together and stationed them at their posts.#Neh 12:44–45 12Then all Judah brought a tenth of the grain, new wine, and fresh oil into the storehouses.#Neh 10:37–38 13I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses the priest Shelemiah, the scribe Zadok, and Pedaiah of the Levites, with Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah to assist them, because they were considered trustworthy.#Neh 7:2; Ac 6:1–5; 1Co 4:2 They were responsible for the distribution to their colleagues.#Neh 12:47
14Remember me for this, my God, and don’t erase the deeds of faithful love I have done for the house of my God and for its services.#Neh 5:19; 13:31
15At that time I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath. They were also bringing in stores of grain and loading them on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, and figs. All kinds of goods were being brought to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them against selling food on that day.#Ex 20:8–11; Dt 5:12–15 16The Tyrians living there were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah in Jerusalem.#Neh 10:31
17I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil you are doing — profaning the Sabbath day?#Ex 20:8–11 18Didn’t your ancestors do the same, so that our God brought all this disaster on us and on this city?#Ezr 9:10–11,13; Jr 17:21–23 And now you are rekindling his anger against Israel by profaning the Sabbath!”
19When shadows began to fall on the city gates of Jerusalem just before the Sabbath, I gave orders that the city gates be closed and not opened until after the Sabbath.#Lv 23:32 I posted some of my men at the gates, so that no goods could enter during the Sabbath day.#Neh 7:1,3; Jr 17:21–22 20Once or twice the merchants and those who sell all kinds of goods camped outside Jerusalem, 21but I warned them, “Why are you camping in front of the wall? If you do it again, I’ll use force#13:21 Lit again, I will send a hand against you.” After that they did not come again on the Sabbath. 22Then I instructed the Levites to purify themselves#Neh 12:30; 13:30 and guard the city gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.#Ex 20:8
Remember me for this also, my God,#Neh 5:19; 13:14,31 and look on me with compassion according to the abundance of your faithful love.#Neh 1:5; 9:17,27,31
23In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.#Dt 23:3; Ezr 9:1–2; Neh 13:1–3; Mal 2:11 24Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples but could not speak Hebrew.#13:24 Lit Judahite#Est 1:22; 8:9 25I rebuked them, cursed them, beat some of their men, and pulled out their hair.#Ezr 9:3; Is 50:6 I forced them to take an oath#Ezr 10:5 before God and said, “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or yourselves!#Ezr 9:1–2; Neh 10:30 26Didn’t King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, yet foreign women drew him into sin.#1Kg 3:13; 11:1–10 27Why then should we hear about you doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?” #Ezr 9:1–2 28Even one of the sons of Jehoiada, son of the high priest Eliashib,#Neh 12:10,22–23 had become a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite.#Neh 2:10; 4:1; 6:1 So I drove him away from me.#Lv 21:10,13–15
29Remember them, my God, for defiling the priesthood as well as the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.#Neh 6:14; Mal 2:4–8
30So I purified them from everything foreign#Neh 10:30 and assigned specific duties to each of the priests and Levites.#Neh 12:44–47 31I also arranged for the donation of wood at the appointed times and for the firstfruits.#Neh 10:34–36
Remember me, my God, with favor.#Neh 5:19; 13:14,22
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers